The Accident
by detective-giggles
Summary: A car accident... Well, it only took forever and a day, but here's the next chapter!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I should NOT be posting this on here, but I'm hoping if it gets reviews, it'll give me motivation to finish. Let me know what you think!

>

Emily Lehman sighed and stood up to stretch. She had been working on paperwork for the past six hours straight. She groaned as she realized how much she actually had left to do. She laughed at how pathetic she was, having to take a personal day off work, just so she could get it done on time. She wandered into the kitchen slowly and got a large glass of water. As she made her way back to the living room, she heard her phone ring.

"Hey, Matt…"

"What are you doing?" Matt asked as soon as Emily answered the phone.

"Paperwork," Emily grinned, "Is this a booty call?" she teased.

"Possibly," he replied, "Come over."

Emily laughed, "I'll take that as a yes. I can't-you should come over here!"

"Em… I miss you," Matt said, "A lot,"

"Matt, I still have so much to do!" Emily protested.

"Come on… Bring it with you!"

"You know I won't get anything done!" Emily countered. She could already feel his lips on her neck and collarbone. She closed her eyes and sighed as she pictured herself in his arms-in his bed.

"You know you want to…" Matt insisted.

"I can't. I have to get this paperwork done for court tomorrow!"

"Emily…"

"Okay," Emily relented, gathering up the folders and her laptop, "Give me twenty minutes."

>

Matt sighed, aimlessly flipping through channels, unable to focus on anything. He looked at his watch again and sighed, trying not to worry. It was entirely possible she sat down with her paperwork, trying to get to a decent stopping point and lost track of time, Matt reasoned with himself. Unable to resist, he grabbed his cell phone and pressed the correct speed-dial. "Hey Em… I – I mean, uh, just…call me, okay?" Matt dropped his phone on the couch beside him and sighed.

Again, he flipped through all 150 channels, irritated that it took less than 5 minutes. Shutting off the TV, he stood up and grabbed his keys. Even if she had attempted to continue her paperwork, two hours was a little extreme. Especially without calling. Just as he was headed out the door, his phone rang. He flipped it open immediately and without looking at the caller ID, "Em?"

"Matt Flannery?"

"Yeah. This is Matt. Who are you?"

"Matt, my name is Linda Andrews, I am the nurse manager at LA County Hospital. I am calling you on behalf of Emily Lehman."

"Em? I-Is she-okay? Did something happen?" Matt asked,

" You were listed as her emergency contact in her cell phone. Matt, Emily was in a car accident. She is here in the Intensive Care Unit."

"Oh God… Is-she-?" Matt leaned against the counter, afraid his legs wouldn't support him any longer.

"She is stable, but in serious condition. We would like you to come in so we can speak with you further and so you can see her."

"Okay… I-Was she-I mean-?" Matt took a deep breath and stopped, realizing he wasn't able to form a coherent sentence.

"I'm sorry Matt, but that is all the information I can give you right now. You will need to come in and speak with her provider."

"Okay… I'll-I'll be there as-as soon as I can," Matt flipped his phone shut and hurried to his car.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for being patient, here's the next chapter... Let me know what you think!

X x X

Cheryl groaned and grabbed up her phone as it started ringing. When she saw Matt's name on the caller ID, she wondered what he was up to. _She_ was the one who should be waking _him_ at ungodly hours of the morning; _not_ the other way around. "This better be good, Flannery!" she threatened in greeting.

"Cheryl…" From the tone of his voice, she knew something was wrong.

"Matt, what's going on?" She asked, concerned. Her voice took on that of a friend; not a colleague. Matt heard the worry in her voice and felt bad for waking her.

"Emily was in a car accident… No one will come out and talk to me…"

"Okay, where are you?"

"L.A. County."

"Alright, give me 15 minutes; I'll be there," Cheryl promised, "Stay calm, everything will be okay," she assured him.

As Cheryl reached blindly into the dresser she thought about her former partner. She pulled out the first T-shirt she grabbed and yanked it over her head. She and Matt had been partners and friends for years. He had helped her through some rough times-she only hoped she could do the same for him.

X x X

Matt flipped the phone shut, feeling slightly less anxious. He felt a little better knowing Cheryl was on her way. His friend-turned-supervisor knew him well--she knew things about him that Emily didn't even know. She had seen him at his worst-- he wasn't even going to try to hide his emotions from her. It wouldn't do any good; she could read him like a book. He thought of Emily, alone, in the ICU. He was scared. No, make that terrified. He had already lost one person he loved because of a car accident—he couldn't make it two.

A nurse rounded the corner and he felt his anxiety return, "Matt?"

"Yeah," he jumped up and hurried towards the nurse.

"I'm Amy, the ER nurse that was here when they brought her in."

Matt nodded, "Is she-"

"She's going to be fine," Amy pointed to the chair he had just vacated, "Let's sit and talk. They need a few minutes to get her set up and then you can go see her." Matt reluctantly returned to the chair but refused to make eye contact with the nice nurse.

"Do you know what happened?" Matt asked after a moment.

"Not a lot. Someone ran a stop sign and T-boned her car," Amy gave him a second to process that new information,

"She's a fighter, you know that right?"

"Yeah," Matt finally smiled, "she is." After a minute he added, "How bad is it?"

Amy was silent for a long minute, "A couple broken ribs and a broken collarbone… And she hit her head pretty hard."

Matt stared at her, numb, "What does that mean?"

Amy looked at Matt sympathetically, "We're not exactly sure what that means. Head injuries are difficult to read. See, the frontal lobe of your brain-it controls a lot. You've got judgments, planning, processing new information, personality, impulse control. Now I'm not saying that any of these will be affected, but you need to know it's a possibility. We won't know until she wakes up."

"Okay… Well are we talking permanent? Temporary?" Matt asked, feeling overwhelmed with the information.

Amy gave him a helpless shrug, "Usually temporary, but I can't say for sure." She stood up, "Let me go make sure she's ready for visitors. Then I'll come back and get you, okay?" Amy turned and eventually disappeared down a long hallway.

Matt sighed and buried his head in his hands. After a minute, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"How are you doing, Matt?" Cheryl asked softly.

"She's stable-she'll be-"

Cheryl cut him off, "No, I asked how _you_ were. I know how she's doing; I asked at the desk."

"I'm- I'm not sure," he admitted. Matt was terrified-he'd be the first to admit that. He was also slightly relieved. She was alive, and hopefully, no permanent injuries. He knew for a fact that it could have been a lot worse. Guilt was also gnawing at him. _He_ had insisted that she come over-she hadn't wanted to. Why couldn't he have just left it at that?

"Did you call her family?" Cheryl asked as Amy returned.

"No."

"Okay. I'll call them," Cheryl offered.

Matt nodded, "Thank you."

"Let me know when she wakes up."

"I will," Matt promised as he followed Amy down the hall.

(TBC)


End file.
